Meeting in a Wand Shop
by Feather and Green Ink
Summary: A normal day of back to school shopping with the Potters and an unexpected occurrence. One year post epilogue.


**I was pondering the other day about what happened to Dudley or really what I wanted to happen to Dudley and this popped out.**

**Enjoy!**

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"James, Albus, behave yourselves. Don't go running too far..." The admonishment was lost in the noise of the crowd as the two boys made a quick retreat from their parents.

Ginny chuckled as she strolled up behind him. "I see they have gotten away from you already."

Harry sighed, " I thought it would be easier as they got older, guess I was wrong."

"They are teenage boys. Not to worry though, I passed Rose and Hugo a while back so they must just be joining those two."

"I hope your right and James hasn't decided its time to visit Knockturn Ally. At least you're well behaved, Lily." Harry grinned down at his daughter where she was timidly gripping her mother's hand. "Well let us see that list then."

"Dad, you and Mum already know what's on the list for first years." She handed the list over anyway and feigned boredom. Harry kept his grin to himself as she attempted to stop from gawking at the bustling crowd that lined Diagon ally. "True, but I need to make absolutely sure it hasn't changed from last year." Ginny rolled her eyes at this.

"And has it?" Lily asked.

"No it has not. I don't think a thing has changed since I was a first year."

Ginny gave her overly cheerful husband an exasperated look, "We best get started if you want to finish the list today." She and Lily started walking, leaving Harry to catch up. "Lily, were to first?"

"I vote the lightest item first," Harry butted in.

"And why is that dear?" Ginny teased.

"Because today my job is not head of the Auror office, but as a glorified shopping cart. So Florish and Blotts last then?" Despite his claim, he had been receiving respectful nods from fellow ministry men all morning.

"I want to go to Olivander's first." Lily nearly shouted in excitement.

"Sweetheart, you do know that just because you have a wand doesn't mean you get to use it until you get to Hogwarts."

"I know Mum." Lily was already tugging her mother toward the swinging sign in the distance.

"Olivander's first then." Harry laughed as they slowly pushed through the crowds congesting the cobblestone street. Back to school shopping always was the busiest time of the year.

Stepping into Olivander's was a respite from the crowd as there was only one other child there, accompanied by his mother. From the open mouth stare she was inspecting the store with, Harry guessed the she was a muggle. He gave her a friendly smile, which she timidly returned before turning back to her son. The boy attempted to soother his mother's anxiousness while he waited for the next wand to try.

"Don't worry Mum, Emi said it took her a while to find the right wand too."

"That it did," Old Mr. Olivander popped out from behind a shelf with a dozen or so thin little boxes clutched in his arms. "She was very particular, though I think the matching wand hardest to find belongs to Mr. Potter over there." Harry blinked in shock at that statement, in retrospect, he realized it wasn't actually that surprising.

The surprising part was the scrutinizing looks he was receiving from both boy and mother. He glanced at the boy as he turned to face Harry fully. Harry did see something familiar in the boy's round face though he could not place it. After a moment the staring began to get awkward and he gave a little wave before turning back to his family.

At that moment Mr. Olivander's nephew came out from the back of the store. Harry jumped at the chance to escape the unfazed attention he was receiving from the other customers.

He sat in the chair Lily had vacated and subtlety tipped his it away from the still staring duo. He looked at Ginny who smiled sympathetically and patted his knee. Another ten minutes past with both children trying wands. The door jingled as a large man and daughter entered. The woman smiled brightly, clearly glad to see her husband and daughter. "Did you and Emi find everything?"

"Every thing except the books from Florish and Blotts, Monica dear. I figured we could all make that stop together."

"Good Good, Chris is still—" She was interrupted by both Lily and Chris simultaneously shooting gold sparks out of their wands. Both sets of parents applauded the children as they rose from their chairs. As they stood, Harry made eye contact with the man and froze. The man did the same.

"Dudley?" Harry asked quietly. Ginny turned to look at the man as well.

"Harry is that you?" Dudley stuck out his hand, "I was hoping to run into you." A big friendly smile so unlike the Dudley Harry grew up with graced his features.

"Hi Dudley, fancy seeing you here." Harry numbly shook his hand while still grasping for words.

"I know this must be a bit of a shock, seeing me here in your world. Both of my children received letters from that old school of yours." To Harry's further surprise he said it with a note of pride in his voice.

"I – I can see that. Dudley, you've changed." Every body in the store was now paying acute attention to the conversation.

"Well, when I noticed my kids doing some of the same odd things you used to do I knew there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. Stamping it out of you didn't work and I sure as hell wasn't going to try with them. So I went to a neighbor I suspected to be like you and asked for advice."

The conversation continued as the two families finished their shopping together. Harry became less confused and gained back his usually confidence. He, strangely enough, found himself to be enjoying the company of his cousin. The late afternoon found them all enjoying a sundae at Florian Fortescue's ice cream parlor.

James and Albus had rejoined them a few hours before. Albus had greeted Emily Dursley as a fellow member of his second year Gryffindor class and James with the easy familiarity of a housemate.

By the evening, the four adults had plans to go out to dinner together in London after dropping the children off at Platform 9¾ in a fortnight. That night Harry and Ginny sat on the couch in their living room relaxing after the stress full day.

"You know, I'm glad we ran into Dudley."

"He is very different than you had described him."

"Yes he has changed quite a bit, too bad it was after I left the Dursley's," Harry tugged his wife toward him.

"How do you feel about our plans with them?"

"Good, I think. I have wondered what had happened to him. Guess his life was better than I would have believed and I look forward to spending more time with them."

The next day Harry walking into the office a few minutes later than usual. He spotted the man he was looking for sitting at his desk already working. "Michael, a word please?"

"Of course boss." Michael Corner jumped out of his chair to follow Harry to his office.

"Michael, I will preface this by saying you are not in trouble, what so ever. Please take a seat."

Corner gulped nervously as he sank into one of the seats facing Harry's desk. "What is this about boss?"

"No need to be frightened Michael. I was just wondering if you could tell me about the muggle man that approached you a number of years ago looking for advice about his children who were doing 'weird things'?"

"Oh, Dudley Dursley. He's one of my neighbors. I think he figured out I was a wizard when he caught me wearing robes one morning. At the time he looked at me strangely, but later said he recognized them as something similar to what he had seen wizards wearing in his youth. He never told me how he knew about wizards and I almost obliviated him until he mentioned his children."

Harry leaned back in his chair soaking in this new information. It seemed that Dudley's mindset towards magic had changed quite a bit in the intervening years. "What did he ask you about his children?"

If Michael was confused by this line of questioning, he was doing his best to hide it. "At first, just to confirm that they were indeed a witch and wizard. Both of them showed signs very young, about three years old I think. When they got a bit older Dudley asked me to start teaching them about the wizarding world."

"And what have you told them?"

"Just the basics really, and I answer any questions they might have. I think that once they got over the initial weirdness of it all Dudley and Monica just wanted Emi and Chris to be the best they could be. They never mentioned you though…" he trailed off.

Harry was lost in his thoughts and didn't reply. After a few minutes of shifting uncomfortably in his chair Michel posed a question of his own. "If a might ask, why do you want to know about Dudley, I'm not breaking the law am I? I figured it would be fine telling them about it seeing as they would have found out soon enough—"

Harry held up a hand to stop the worried ramble, "No Michael, you are not in trouble. I was asking because Dudley is my cousin and should have had a decent knowledge of magic already." Harry figured he must have learned something in the year he spent in hiding during the war. "Thank you for the information, you may return to work.

Michael escaped quickly; glad to leave the stilted conversation behind. Harry continued staring at the wall lost as thoughts raced through his head. _Could it really be possible that the bully I knew had grown into such a well-adjusted and open-minded man? Could it really be possible for me to reconcile with that part of my family?_ He smiled, _Yes, I really think it might be._ With that he dove into the mountain of paperwork in his inbox that was sure to put a damper in his bright mood.

**So there you have it. Please let me know what you think/thought and remember that Authors adore reviews.**

**Thanks!**


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